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Lecture 2 Basic Maths

The lecture covers essential mathematical concepts including writing expressions, working with symbols, and solving simple equations. It emphasizes the importance of understanding relationships between variables and provides examples for practical applications. Students are encouraged to read assigned chapters and practice solving problems before tutorials.

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4 views

Lecture 2 Basic Maths

The lecture covers essential mathematical concepts including writing expressions, working with symbols, and solving simple equations. It emphasizes the importance of understanding relationships between variables and provides examples for practical applications. Students are encouraged to read assigned chapters and practice solving problems before tutorials.

Uploaded by

simizzxx
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Lecture 2: Essential Maths Basics

ECO-10026
Quantitative Methods I

Dr Alena Audzeyeva
e-mail: [email protected]

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Lecture 2: Essential Maths Basics

Lecture Content
• Writing Mathematical expressions
• Working with symbols: algebra
• Simple Equations and solutions

Reading & Examples: Bradley (Maths) Chapter 1, sec. 1.1-1.6 or


Swift & Piff: Part 1: Essential Maths, sec 1-3

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Lecture 2: Essential Maths Basics

ESSENTIAL MATHS
We assume that you know how to add, subtract, multiply and divide
numbers.
And that you can round numbers like 5.1234723
You understand and can add/subtract/multiply/divide fractions
You know the order of operations – BODMAS (Brackets, Orders(indices),
Divide, Multiply, Add, Subtract)
• First do all operations that lie inside parentheses/brackets.
• Next, do any work with exponents/orders/indices.
• Working from left to right, do all multiplication and division.
• Finally, working from left to right, do all addition and subtraction.
E.g., compute: (20 + 42) + 12/3 = ?

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Lecture 2: Essential Maths Basics

Letters and Symbols


Letters are used to give representation of a constant or a variable
Example:
We have £200 and need to purchase Euros (€). We know that the
exchange rate is £1=1.5€, which can be expressed as 1.5 €/£ (“1.5 euros
per pound”).
So £200 will give: 200*1.5 = 300€
We can generalize this so that we can work out the Euro value of any
British currency value at any exchange rate i.e. Note: this requires the number of
Euros per pound
euros = pounds * exchange rate
We can represent this by symbols/letters
e = p*r or more commonly written e = pr
where e = value in Euros, p = value in pounds, r = exchange rate (€/£)
We can use this expression to solve a variety of problems.
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Lecture 2: Essential Maths Basics

Example: On 15 January 2015 we received 960€ in exchange for £800.


What was the exchange rate used?

This illustrates the importance of finding and being able to use relationships
between variables

Another example:
I want to organize a boat party for friends, n people in total. Basic boat hire
cost is £60 and the cost of fuel used is £5 per hour. Friends are interested in
the amount they will pay (i.e. cost per person). What is the generic
expression for the cost?

We can work out what the cost per person will be for any number of people
and hours on the boat. E.g if 5 people go on the trip and it lasts 3 hours,
cost per person will be…
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Lecture 2: Essential Maths Basics

Working with Symbols:


The rules for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division are
exactly the same as for arithmetic with numbers

Formulae Examples: a=2, b=3


-(-a) = a -(-2) = 2
-(+a) = -a - (2) = -2
a(-b) = -ab 2(-3) = -23=-6
(-a)(-b) = ab (-2)(-3) = 6
a/(-b) = -a/b 2/(-3) = -2/3
(-a)/(-b) = a/b (-2)/(-3) = 2/3

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Lecture 2: Essential Maths Basics

Often we have to collect like terms together


➢2pq + pq - 5pq = -2pq
➢s/2r +4s/2r = 5s/2r
➢k/2l +3s/4r + 5k/4l = ?

The value before a bracket is multiplied by everything inside the


brackets
➢a(b + c) = ab + ac
➢x(y + z) – xy = xy +xz – xy = xz
➢(b + c)/a = b/a + c/a
➢(a + b)(c + d) = ac + ad + bc + bd
➢(x – 2)(y + 1) = xy – 2y + x - 2

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Lecture 2: Essential Maths Basics

Powers/Order/Indices

xn stands for x raised to the power n, and means multiply x by itself n times:
xn = x*x*x*……...*x
n terms
E.g. if x =2 and n =3, then xn = 23 = 8

x1/n stands for the nth root of x and means find the number, which when
multiplied by itself n times, gives x.

E.g. if x=64 and n=2, then x1/n = 641/2 = √64 = 8 .

It is a shorthand way of writing such expressions

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Lecture 2: Essential Maths Basics

Simplifying powers:

a2 y6 a * a * y * y * y * y * y * y
e.g. simplify ay 4 = = a * y * y = ay 2

a* y* y* y* y*

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Lecture 2: Essential Maths Basics

Equations:

• Show the relationship between constants and variables


• They form quantitative models of problems in business, econ. and finance
• When there is a single unknown value, rearrange the equation so that this
value is on one side of the equals sign, and all the known values are on the
other side.
• Then doing the calculations gives the unknown value – or solves the
equation
• When you do the same thing to both sides of an equation, it remains
true
3x + 1000 = x + 2 + 1000
Means that (if we subtract 1500 from both sides)
3x -500 = x + 2 – 500
Solving for x gives: x =?
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Lecture 2: Essential Maths Basics

Guidelines for Solving Equations:


1. Get x ‘on top’
by multiplying by any expressions containing x that are in the
denominators of fractions.

2. Get x outside any brackets


Multiply out any brackets.

3. Get all the xs on one side


Collect together on one side of the equation all the terms involving x.

4. Get x alone on one side


Remove all other terms from that side of the equation.

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Lecture 2: Essential Maths Basics

Examples
1) 3x – x = x + 2 – x

2) 3p + 3 = 11– p

𝟐𝒚 𝟒
3) =𝟏+
(𝒚−𝟐) (𝒚−𝟐)

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Lecture 2: Essential Maths Basics

Solving Problems using equations:


1) I have 10 coins in my pocket and these are all 5p or 10p pieces.
Altogether they are worth 65p. What is the equation for the number of
coins of each type?
Hint: Let n represent a number of 5p coins and write the expression for the
total sum of money (65p)…

2) Paul and Louise go shopping. Paul spends twice as much as Louise and
they spend £90 in total. How much do each of them spend?
If x is the amount spent by Louise…

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Lecture 2: Essential Maths Basics

3) A concert organiser anticipates selling 2000 tickets and expects that a


quarter of these will be sold at the concessionary price of 40% reduction.
He needs to make $18,000 in ticket receipts. How much must a full price
ticket be?
Let P be full price ticket price…

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Lecture 2: Essential Maths Basics

Rearranging Equations:
Already done simple example: rearranged e = pr to find r from p and e.
Example:
Relationship relating degrees Centigrade (C) to degrees Fahrenheit (F) is:
5
C = ( F − 32)
9
Express this with F as the subject (i.e. F ‘depends on’ C)
9C = 5( F − 32) multiply both sides by 9
9C = 5F − 160 multiply out brackets
9C + 160 = 5F add 160 to both sides
9C + 160
=F
5 divide both sides by 5
9
F = C + 32
More commonly written 5
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Lecture 2: Essential Maths Basics

Summary -
o Algebra, using symbols
o Simple Equations

➢Read the chapters in the book(s).


➢Practice solving examples from the textbook
➢Before the tutorial: practice by solving the Quiz questions and attempt
the set of home exercises for Tutorial 1 (in the “Tutorial 1” attachment
for week 2 materials) prior to attending the tutorial.

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